This sweeping novel explores many timely topics, including oppression, women's rights, class, race, and interracial marrige. It also sheds light on the tumultuous history of Iran from a new perspective.The novel reveals a forty year period of upheaval in Iran, specifically in Zulaikha's home, Khuzestan province, which boasts the bulk of Iran's oil reserves - a place of intense tension between Iran and the U.S. still today.